By this time the second dinner-bell rang, and the duke went down, not to dine, but to take leave of Lady Belgrade.
He found her ladyship in the drawing-room.
"Give me your arm to dinner, if you please, Duke," she said, rising.
"I hope you will excuse me; but I have only come to say good-by. I have but time to catch the train. Kerr has already put my luggage in the cab, which is waiting for me at the door. Good-by, dear Lady Belgrade. You will co-operate with Setter in all things necessary to a successful search, I know. Setter has my orders to report to you--"
"You take my breath away!" gasped the dowager.
"Write to me by every mail. Keep me informed of events--"
"You will kill yourself, Duke! flying off without your dinner, and looking fitter for going to bed than on a journey!" panted the dowager.
"Now then, good-by in earnest, dear Lady Belgrade, and G.o.d bless you,"
concluded the duke, raising her hand to his lips and bowing.
And before the dowager could say another word he was gone.
"Well, if he lives to be as old as I am, he will take things easier.
Though, if he goes on at this rate, he won"t live to be old," mused the old lady, as she slowly waddled into the dining-room, and took her seat at the table to enjoy her solitary green turtle soup.
CHAPTER XXII.
AT LONE.
The Duke of Hereward went out to the close cab that was waiting for him before the door.
He found his valet standing by it, with a pair of railroad rugs over his arm.
He directed the man to mount to a seat beside the cabman, and gave the latter orders where to drive.
Then he entered the cab and closed all the doors and windows, that he might not be seen by any chance acquaintance.
He was supposed by all the world of London to be away on his wedding tour, and he was willing to let them continue to believe so, until they should be enlightened by a report of the great trial, when they would learn the fact and the explanation at once, and thus be prevented from making undesirable conjectures and speculations concerning his presence at such a time in England.
He leaned back on his seat, and the cabman, having received directions from the valet, drove rapidly off toward the Great Northern Railway Station at Kings Cross.
An hour"s fast drive brought them to their destination.
The duke dispatched his valet to the ticket office to engage a coupe on the express train, so that he might be entirely private.
And he remained in the cab with closed doors and windows until the servant had secured the coupe, and conveyed all the light luggage into it.
Then he left the cab, and pa.s.sed at once into the coupe, leaving his servant to pay and discharge the cab, and to follow him on the train.
James Kerr, after performing these duties, went to the door of his master"s little compartment to ask if he had any further orders, before going to take his place in the second-cla.s.s carriages.
"No, Kerr, but come in here with me. I want you at hand during the journey," replied the duke, who, much as he confided in the young man"s devotion and loyalty, could not quite trust his discretion, and therefore desired to keep him from talking.
The valet bowed and entered the coupe, taking the seat that his master pointed out.
The train moved slowly out of the station, but gaining speed as it left the town, soon began to fly swiftly on its northern course.
The October sun was setting as the train flew along the margin of the "New River," as Sir Hugh Myddellen"s celebrated piece of water-engineering is called.
The October evening was chill, and the swift flight of the train drawing a strong draught that could not be kept out, increased the chilliness.
The duke leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
The valet attentively tucked the railway rug around his master"s knees.
The sun had set. The long twilight of northern lat.i.tudes came on.
At the first station where the express stopped, the guard opened the door and offered to light the lamps, but the duke forbade him, saying that he preferred the darkness.
The guard closed the door and retired, and the train started again, and flew on northward through the deepening night.
It stopped only at the largest towns and cities on its route--at Peterboro", at York, at Newcastle, and Edinboro".
It was sunrise when the train reached Lone, the only small station at which it stopped on the route.
The guard opened the door of the coupe, and the young duke got out, attended by his valet.
The train stopped but one minute, and then shot out of the station and flew on toward Aberdeen.
The distance between the railway station and the "Hereward Arms," was very short, so the duke preferred to walk it, followed by his valet and a railway porter carrying his light luggage.
The sun had risen indeed, although it was nowhere visible.
A Scotch mist had risen from the lake, and settled over the mountains, vailing all the grand features of the landscape.
Early as the hour was, the hamlet, as they pa.s.sed through it, seemed deserted by all its male inhabitants. None but women and children were to be seen, and even they, instead of being at work, were loitering about their own doors or gossiping with each other.
Though the duke and his servant were the only pa.s.sengers that got off the train at Lone, the whole force of the "Hereward Arms,"--landlord, head-waiter, hostler, boots and stable boys--turned out to meet them.
"Your grace is unco welcome to the "Hereward Arms,"" said Donald Duncan, the worthy host, bowing low before his distinguished guest.
And all his underlings followed his example by pulling their red forelocks and sc.r.a.ping their right feet backwards.
"Your hamlet seems to be deserted to-day, landlord. What fair or what else is going on?" inquired the young duke, as he followed the bowing host to the neat little parlor of the inn.
"Ah! wae"s the day! Dinna your grace ken! It will be the trial at Banff--the trial of yon grand villain, Johnnie Potts, for the murder of his master."
"Oh, yes, I know the trial will be commenced to-day; but I did not think that the people here would take so much interest in it as to leave their work and go such a distance to see it," remarked the duke.